六月廿九日
那已经在耶稣里睡了的人，神也必将他与耶稣一同带来。（帖前4：14）
我们不要以爲灵魂睡了以后是没有知觉的。基督对每一位临终的圣徒说：“今日你要同我在乐园里了。”他们“在耶稣里睡了”，但他们的灵魂却在神的宝座之前，在他的殿中时时赞美他，向那用宝血洗除他们罪的主唱哈利路亚。身体孤零零地睡在大地的床中，上面盖著青草的毯子，这是一种什麽睡呢？这种睡的意思与“安息”有关，这是神的灵所启示我们的思想。白天操劳，晚间睡眠便得安息。
睡把灵魂的门关紧，使外来的一切烦扰暂时止步，好叫里面的生命进到夏日休憩的乐园。疲劳的信徒安静地入睡，正像困倦的孩子在母亲的怀中沉睡一样。在主里死了的人有福了，他们息了他们的劳苦，他们工作的果效也随着他们；他们必然安眠，直到神叫他们起来得赏赐的时候。在那承受荣耀的人睡了之后，有天使看守，有永远的奥秘掩蔽，直到完全被救赎的时候来到。
他们醒来是一种什麽情形呢？他们被安放在安眠之处已经精疲力倦，但当他们起来的时候却不是这样了；他们满脸绉纹、枯槁憔悴地进入安息，但当他们醒来的时候却满了荣美；丑陋的种子从土里出来的时候，换了好看的样子，成了一棵美丽的花。坟墓的寒冬过去，救赎的春天、荣耀的夏天就接踵而至。在主里死了的人有福了，因爲那是借着神的能力，脱去我们工作的服装，给我们穿上永不朽坏的婚服。那“在耶稣里睡了的人”有福了。
June
29
“Them
also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.” — 1 Thessalonians
4:14
Let us not imagine that the soul sleeps in insensibility. “Today
shalt thou be with me in paradise,” is the whisper of Christ to every
dying saint. They “sleep in Jesus,” but their souls are before the
throne of God, praising Him day and night in His temple, singing hallelujahs to
Him who washed them from their sins in His blood. The body sleeps in its lonely
bed of earth, beneath the coverlet of grass. But what is this sleep? The idea
connected with sleep is “rest,” and that is the thought which the
Spirit of God would convey to us. Sleep makes each night a Sabbath for the day.
Sleep shuts fast the door of the soul, and bids all intruders tarry for a
while, that the life within may enter its summer garden of ease. The toil-worn
believer quietly sleeps, as does the weary child when it slumbers on its
mother’s breast. Oh! happy they who die in the Lord; they rest from their
labours, and their works do follow them. Their quiet repose shall never be
broken until God shall rouse them to give them their full reward. Guarded by
angel watchers, curtained by eternal mysteries, they sleep on, the heritors of
glory, till the fulness of time shall bring the fulness of redemption. What an
awaking shall be theirs! They were laid in their last resting place, weary and
worn, but such they shall not rise. They went to their rest with the furrowed
brow, and the wasted features, but they wake up in beauty and glory. The
shrivelled seed, so destitute of form and comeliness, rises from the dust a
beauteous flower. The winter of the grave gives way to the spring of redemption
and the summer of glory. Blessed is death, since it, through the divine power,
disrobes us of this work-day garment, to clothe us with the wedding garment of
incorruption. Blessed are those who “sleep in Jesus.”
